The federal energy minister has flatly ruled out an emissions-intensity scheme as Australia's official science agency urges the government to adopt a plan for zero carbon emissions.
The CSIRO says just as much of Australia's power can come from renewable energy as it does from coal-fired generation.
The CSIRO and Energy Networks Australia have written a road map for the Turnbull Government to a zero carbon-emissions future.
They say a national energy plan could begin as soon as 2020 and would rely heavily on solar and wind power.
They say, by 2050, Australia could have zero net emissions but a price on carbon would be essential.
But Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has quickly told the ABC that will not happen.
"We had a big fight with the Labor Party at the 2013 election over the carbon tax. We won that convincingly and were successful in abolishing the carbon tax. We're not going back down that route. We're certainly not going back down the route of a carbon tax."
The report says it could save customers about $400 a year on household electricity bills.
It would require 25 new large-scale solar or wind farms in the next five years to replace coal-fired power stations.
Millions of home battery-storage units would also be needed.
The report suggests around 40 per cent of energy generation could come from such renewable technologies in the eastern states by 2030 and easily replace coal-fired energy.
Energy Networks Australia's John Bradley says it would not mean massive blackouts like the one last year that crippled South Australia, a state heavily reliant on renewable energy.
"We can manage the intermittency of renewables that are causing challenges in South Australia. We can keep the grid stable through using smart technologies like batteries and other forms of synchronous condensers and other technology to keep the grid stable at the high voltages but also manage, at the other end of the system, the massive amounts of rooftop solar and batteries that are coming onto the grid."
But Mr Bradley says a secure and balanced energy network needs government commitment.
"This framework relies on stable and enduring energy policy and carbon policy. And that means a cooperation between state and federal governments and a policy framework that doesn't change at every election cycle. But when you think about the significance of energy for our households, for our businesses, it is as important an issue in te national interest as defence or foreign affairs."
Josh Frydenberg has told the ABC the Government is on track to meet its own internationally agreed-to targets.
"There are lots of mechanisms that you can use to reduce your emissions. And we've been very successful in beating our first Kyoto target. We're on track to beat our 2020 target by 224 million tonnes, and we expect to beat our 2030 target, which is reducing our carbon footprint by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030 on our 2005 levels."
The Government only recently announced it would give itself the power to force gas companies to quarantine some of their supply for domestic customers before sending it overseas.
The Government's plan, which it wants to implement from July, would only be triggered if there were a shortfall in supply forecast.
It says its reservation policy is a short-term solution to securing supply to customers and preventing power failures.
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will not commit to policies environmental conservatives in the Coalition do not support.
"Australia needs an emissions-intensity scheme, and it's beyond time that the Prime Minister shook off the hard-right shackles that keep him from that policy and started to introduce a plan that will put downward pressure on power prices for manufacturers, for industry and for households."
